The Waiting Game: My Story of Labor & Delivery

From the minute you find out you are pregnant you can't wait to meet the little one growing inside you. You fantasize about what he or she will look like, the first time they will smile, crawl, walk and call you Mommy. Of course all this seems very far off in the future - 9-10 months to be exact. But while most of your pregnancy is spent planning for baby ¦¡ and really you need all the time you can get to make sure all the details are in place ¦¡ you never really think about those final days or weeks before the delivery. If you are like me, you don't really contemplate whether you will be late or early. And even though you know the odds of delivering on your due date are slim, you still have that number stamped in your mind. That is the day you will meet your child. But what if it isn't?

I was due to deliver August 11^th with my first child. We chose not to know the sex of the baby so the waiting was even more fraught with excitement as I had no idea who had been living inside me for the past 40 weeks. The nursery was ready, the pediatrician was selected (one for the hospital and one for afterwards), the names were finalized, the bag was packed, the phone list written and the transportation to the hospital was arranged. Now all we needed was the baby.

The visit to my doctor 3 days before my due date prepared me to deliver late. I was barely dilated - maybe half a centimeter and 70% effaced. But while it prepares you rationally, it does not prepare you emotionally. I chose to work up until the baby came out. Luckily I had a wonderfully easy-going pregnancy and knew that any days I took before the birth would come off my leave later. And of course I wanted to spend as much time with my baby as possible before returning to work. What I was not prepared for were the daily barrage of comments from co-workers "You still here?" and "No baby yet?" Friends would say "Just checking in to see if there's any news" and loved ones "What did the doctor say?" "How are you feeling?" "Nothing yet?"

My husband thought we would deliver the weekend after my due date. That date came and went. And at my next doctor's appointment, 4 days after I was due, I was only 1 centimeter dilated. I asked the doctor to sweep my membranes, a procedure by where he uses his fingers to separate the bag of waters from the lower part of the uterus. This is a natural way to induce labor and could take as little as a few hours or as many as a few days to work. It is uncomfortable but only lasts about a minute. As of the following day I still had no contractions so I called my doctor's office to schedule a date to be induced. I did not want to go more than a week late. The biggest reason for this was my brother's impending nuptials, which meant we were taking the baby on a plane and I would rather take a 4 week old infant on a plane than a 3 week old one. I know it doesn't seem like much but every day their immune system gets stronger and stronger so a matter of days could make all the difference in the baby fighting off infection and germs.

The doctor agreed to schedule me to be induced, but the first availability was Friday evening the 19^th of August, 8 days after I was due. Although I was anxious to go earlier, this was as soon as they could accommodate me. It turns out, I would not need that appointment after all.

At 4am on Wednesday morning the 17^th, I woke up with cramps. Nothing too severe but I definitely suspected this could be it. I went back to sleep and woke up again at 6:30am. This time they were a bit stronger and I knew this was it. I nudged my husband and said "I think I might be in labor." We monitored the contractions for the next few hours and they were coming about 7-10 minutes apart. When I called my doctor he said to wait until they were 5 minutes apart for an hour before calling back. After 10:30am they began to get more irregular and almost seemed to stop. We decided to take a walk and go have lunch in the hopes that would bring them on again. They were erratic, anywhere from 5-20 minutes apart until 7pm that night. At 7, I began to have back labor. For those of you who are not familiar with this brand of torture I will tell you that it is like being kicked in the small of the back and the stomach at the same time. Not fun. From 8-9pm the contractions were 5 minutes apart. We called the doctor and he said we could come to the hospital but he warned me that I still might not be in labor, since I was only 1 centimeter dilated at my most recent appointment. I, however, knew I was in labor and no man was going to tell me differently!

When we got to the hospital around 10:30pm they hooked me up to the machines and tracked the contractions for an hour or so. The pain was bad at this stage but I had no idea how much worse it would get. Around 12am they examined me and I was only 1 ¨ú centimeters dilated. And apparently according to the machine, my contractions were "not that strong" and very erratic still. They were sending me home. After a tearful call to my doctor, where I explained I was being induced in 18 hours anyway, it was determined that there was no room at the hospital and my labor was dubbed "Prodromal" or "false labor." Try telling that to the contractions. The doctor and nursing staff all told me to go home and have some wine and take a bath. As if that would help with the pain.

When I got home I did have some wine and then I proceeded to throw up for 2 hours. My body was literally emptying itself due to the intense pain. At 3:30am I could no longer take it. I could barely stand up and I was dry heaving since there was nothing left. The pain was unimaginable. I called my doctor back and he asked if I wanted to go back to the hospital and they could give me something for the pain. Um, what do you think? So we headed back and surprise, surprise, when they examined me I was 5 centimeters. Guess the fake labor was real after all. Once they realized I was in labor I was able to have an epidural. THE GREATEST THING EVER!!! It saved my life and probably my marriage. I don't think my husband - who was so supportive and held my hand and cleaned up my puke all night - could have taken any more of me crying and complaining. Once I had the epidural it was smooth sailing. We slept a couple of hours in a private birthing room and when they examined me at 7am I was 8 centimeters and at 9am I was 10. I began pushing around 9:45am and my gorgeous son was out at 10:53. Piece of cake!

So was all the waiting worth it? What do you think? Owen Tyler Hughes weighed in at 8 lbs and 9 oz and was 21 ¨ù" long. And now I finally had an answer for all those people who kept asking me " No baby yet?" So to any of you who are past your due date, I will tell you that not only do you "forget" the pain of labor, you forget that you delivered late because all you see is your gorgeous baby and a lifetime of memories that lay ahead.